The Runaway Chosen
by Fox Mew Brittany
Summary: Oneshot for Project X's 'Dog Days of Post-Paradise' contest. What if there was a Chosen who wanted to meet the Yellow Eyed Angel, but it is looked down upon because of the other Chosen's belief in her. So a young Chosen leaves the home she felt safe at in search of the one who has yet to return to God. Sorry for the crappy summary.


**The Runaway**** Chosen**

**Note: 'Dog Days of Post-Paradise' is solely Project X's idea, this is for her contest.**

The rays of the morning light shined onto a seemingly abandoned city in hopes of awakening any hidden inhabitants. Sand being carried on the high winds had blown into the city while the gates managed to keep the rest out and prevent the desert from taking back the city. Walking along the streets were two lines of soldiers in black uniforms patrolling the grounds and slowly more people started appearing but once they started walking on the streets, the soldiers in uniform took a few seconds to bow to them as a sign of respect before going back to their duties.

Sitting on top of a high building was a young girl looking no older than twelve, staring intently out at the desert watching the morning sun peek out from behind some sand dunes. The girl adjusted the ratty brown cloak she was wearing to keep the sand from sticking to her and keeping it out of her eyes, as the winds died down the girl lowered the hood to reveal her gray eyes, black hair and sun kissed skin.

As she continued to look out at the desert, the black haired adolescent spotted something out in the distant. Normally from her distance a normal human couldn't see what she saw other than a black spec against the tan sand, but what she saw greatly interested her. "What's that?!" She leaned a bit over the edge of the building to try to get a closer look, quickly she retrieved a piece of paper and pencil and began drawing what she saw, "Oh please, don't leave just yet." She muttered to herself as she continued sketching what she saw beyond the fence.

When she was finished sketching, the girl looked at what she drew which was a detailed sketch of what looked like a scorpion, but what she didn't quite understand was that it wasn't any ordinary scorpion and with her eyes she wouldn't have been able to see it if it were a normal one. Looking at her sketch, she looked around on the ground level to see if she could ask anyone what she saw. Seeing the soldiers about to approach the building she was on, the girl quickly ran for the fire escape, got down on the ground and waited for them to stop momentarily.

"Excuse me?" the girl spoke to the soldiers who stopped to bow to her, "Have any of you been on the outside?" Hoping that the soldiers she was speaking to could properly answer her.

The soldiers looked amongst themselves wondering why someone such as herself would ask such a question. One of the soldiers took it upon himself to answer, "I have, why do you ask, madam?"

The girl took out the picture of the scorpion she drew and shown it to the soldier, "I was wondering what this was, I know it's a scorpion but it didn't look normal."  
Seeing the scorpion sketch the soldier managed to suppress a chuckle at the girl's curiosity, "That is a Scopion Ender, nasty little buggers."

"So how big are they? When I saw it, it looked quite huge but a normal scorpion is tiny and from where I was at I wouldn't have been able to see it."

The soldier looked around for a couple of seconds after spotting wrecked car and pointed to it, "The Scorpion Enders are about the size of that car over there with their tail raising a foot over their bodies." he then added, "Depending on how long they live, they could grow a bit bigger than the one you've seen. Now did that sate your curiosity?"

The girl nodded, still interested in the Ender she saw, "Thank you."

As she went to go back up to the building she was originally at she heard the soldier who answered her, "It was no problem, madam."

_'I hate that title.' _the girl bitterly thought as she climbed back up to the roof and started watching the desert again in hopes of seeing another Ender or something different.

Inside the same building a blonde haired woman looking like she was in her early twenties tossed and turned awake after seeing the sun through her closed eyes. Patting the bed with her arm to look for something, she bolted awake to find that the right side of the bed was empty. Scrambling out of her bed she ran to the living room of the apartment to find that it was empty, no note or anything.

Grabbing her cloak to cover her pajamas, feeling that whoever was missing from the room was her top priority. "Kira!" The woman yelled, her authoritative voice ringing throughout the complex. "Damn it all, why can't she just stay in the room until I wake up?!"

Going from door to door to the rooms she knew were occupied, she asked whoever answered the door if they had seen Kira at all, but all the answered she gotten were the same; No.

The black haired girl looked at the door leading down into the complex and let out a sigh when she heard the woman calling her name, _'I'm here, like always. It's not like I can go anywhere else.'_ Hiding the picture of the Scorpion Ender under a loose tile, the girl named Kira waited for the woman to finally figure out to head to the roof.

Looking up and down the apartment, the woman finally depleted all her options and began heading to the roof, thinking that it should be locked. Climbing many flights of stairs, the woman reached the door to the roof to find that the door was unlocked and slightly ajar. Pushing it open the rest of the way, she spotted Kira sitting on the edge of the building and let out a sigh of relief before getting irritated.

"Kira, how many times do I have to tell you to wait in the room!" The woman scolded the young girl, her light blue eyes glowing slightly to refect her anger at the young girl.

Kira didn't bother to look at the woman, knowing the scolding all too well. "I got bored."

"You know perfectly well that I'm responsible for you! The last time I let you out of my sight I got scorched by Lord Father and our brothers and sisters! Kira, I'm only trying to look after you so you don't get hurt, you're still a child!"

"But that's just it Lane, I can't get hurt here! This place is a haven for the Chosen, what's the point in having you as my guardian if there's absolutely nothing for you to protect me from?!" Kira yelled back at her guardian, getting off the side of the building, sat on the ground and rested her head on her knees. "I bet big sis wouldn't act this way if I met her." she muttered to herself even though she knew Lane would hear her.

"Everyone here would act the same way if they were appointed as your guardian and it's to be that way until you're old enough." Lane counteracted, not completely getting what Kira was talking about, assuming that she didn't want her as a guardian because of her overbearing behavior.

Kira buried her face in her arms, "That's not who I'm talking about! I'm talking about big sis whose still outside!"

Lane felt her breath get caught in her throat when Kira was talking about the 'Yellow Eyed Devil', in her mind Lane wanted to yell at Kira telling her to get those thoughts out of her mind, that meeting the Devil was forbidden. But even if she told the young girl that there wouldn't be any guarantee that it'd work, Kira was still slightly defiant due to her age and personality and the only one she would really obey was Lord Father and as of late he hadn't given any revelation to anyone about the 'Yellow Eyed Devil' or if it was forbidden to seek her out. The woman didn't feel anything towards the only Chosen who refused to come home and resisted the call, she wasn't the only one who felt that way about the Devil, many of her Chosen bretheren felt the exact same way.

"Why would you want to meet the Devil, she disobeyed-"

Hearing Lane call their sister the Devil, Kira got up on her feet and glared at her guardian, "Don't call her that, she's still our sister!"

"She's no sister to us, how can we call her our 'sister' if she doesn't see Lord Father as God?! She's poison." Lane knew perfectly well that arguing with Kira would lead to no where and it was childish, but as her guardian Lane had to make sure Kira got rid of such thoughts that would impair her belief in God.

Kira violently shook her head, rejecting Lane's accusation against the supposed 'Devil', "In Christian beliefs Lucifer was God's child and he cast him down because Lucifer loved God. What if our sister was here before any of us, answering our Father's call but he cast her out because she loved him too much? Did you ever think about that?!"

Lane let out an exasperated sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose to alleviate her irritation, "You know Lord Father does not approve of his Chosen to read that book... How did you get your hands on one?"

"You're missing the point of what I'm trying to tell you!" Kira yelled at Lane, frustrated that she wasn't exactly listening to what she was saying, "Lord Father had told us that we should always be kind to each other, big sis is no exception!"

At the end of her patience, Lane decided to go back to her room to get dressed in proper clothes and turn over the entire apartment to find out where Kira had hidden the bible she somehow obtained. Kira on the other hand stayed up on the roof, slowly getting more and more upset that Lane refused to listen to her like she usually did when they had their 'discussion'. Wiping away the tears from her eyes before they fell Kira walked toward the door leading back down to the rooms but closed it and went back to where she hid her Ender sketch. Taking out more sketches and books, Kira leaned back against the edge of the apartment building and started looking through her drawings.

Several of Kira's drawings shown sceneries that hardly exist anymore, several animals but mostly birds and her with three other people with blurred faces who she assumed to be her family before everything changed. "I wish I could remember you." Kira spoke to the picture that had her 'parents' and held the picture close.

Putting all her pictures underneath the tile as a paper weight, Kira pulled a picture book of animals into her lap and started to look through the pages. It didn't take her long to finish the picture book and move onto a more detailed book about birds, as she read Kira tried to think back to a time where she could remember what birds sounded like, how they soar in the sky with the wind under their wings and how small some of them were compaired to others. Taking a break from reading, Kira looked over the edge of the building to see the other Chosen heading off to the manor at the far edge of the city, she knew that it was there where Lord Father was and the Chosen gather there to pay their respects.

Watching them leave towards the manor was when Kira had an idea formulate in her mind; While all the other Chosen weren't watching her, she could get over the fence and look for the last Chosen. Waiting several minutes for everyone except the patroling lesser Elites to leave, Kira gathered her belongings, ran back down to where her and Lane were staying, found a back pack and began putting some clothes, her sketches and books, and a bottle or two of water in it. Slinging the strap over her shoulder under her cloak Kira took a deep breath, gathering her courage to go through with what she wanted to do. Leaving the building, Kira was surprised to find that no one was around even though there were Elites patrolling the area, but the young Chosen used that to her advantage and ran to the buildings close to the fence while using the alleyways when the Elites were close.

Reaching an old, dilapidated office building Kira went inside, having to duck under several stray boards and climb over debris. The reason why the office building wasn't even remotely repaired was because it was falling apart even before the virus broke out and if the virus hadn't broken out, it would've been demolished. Kira knew that by walking inside the building she was putting herself at risk for injury and if she was caught she'd probably be severely punished by God, but it was risk she had to take. Carefully going up several flights of stairs Kira had to maneuver around several piles of concrete debris and wooden barricades, luckily for Kira she was flexible and managed to get around them to reach the roof. Reaching the roof Kira knew she had chosen the right building for her plan because it was basically the only one that was tall enough for her to be able to jump over the fence that was electrified and laced with barb-wire. The fence was meant to keep unwanted people, Greeds, zombies and Enders out of their haven, not once had anyone bothered to leave since all those who came wanted a haven away from those who thought they were the monsters.

_'Okay, I only have one shot at this. I have to make this count.'_ Kira told herself as she backed up towards the middle of the roof to give herself a running start.

Quickly limbering up so that all her muscles were loose Kira made sure that her back pack was securely tied to her, her cloak secured around her neck and took a deep breath before making her attempt. Counting to three in her mind, Kira bolted towards the edge, used it to launch herself up in the air and quickly tucked herself in a ball to prevent the wire from catching any part of her clothing. As quickly as she jumped over the fence Kira didn't think to recover and land properly which in the end, landing hard on her back, knocking the air out of her and it didn't help that her back pack didn't soften the landing.

Panicked Kira gasped for air, she struggled to turn on her front and get up which seemed to hurt her lungs more until, as if by instinct, she stopped moving for a moment to relax, her panic washing away and started breathing deeply despite the discomfort.

Feeling the disorientation fading Kira got up, looked behind her to see the outside of the fence, "Holy crap, I'm outside! I'm outside!" Kira felt giddy as a school girl over such a feat but she had to get a hold of herself, "Okay, gotta run, gotta run." Kira pointed away from the city, "That way."

Reminding herself why she went over the fence, the young black haired girl began making an attempt to run from the city of Chosen to hopefully somewhere where the last Chosen was. Managing to get quite the distance away from the city, Kira looked back to see that the city was barely noticable due to all the sand dunes, but she felt like she accomplished something good for her. Having no bearings or sense of direction, Kira started walking against the wind which made her pull her hood up over her eyes and fight against the wind since there were no places to take shelter. The heat from the overbearing sun was starting to take its toll on the young girl, even when the sun was behind a few clouds for even a moment wasn't that long of a retrieve from the heat and it didn't help that the sand reflected the sun's rays, but at least the wind died down for a moment.

**~X~**

"Damn it to Hell, where did that little impotent pest go this time?" Lane began looking around for Kira once again, "To think I'm gonna have to start keeping her on a leash and dragging her everywhere." the guardian muttered to herself as she looked all up and down every building.

"Lane, let Kira come to you. It'll be easier on yourself if you just gave her time to return. It's not like she can go anywhere else." Another Chosen suggested to Lane after having to watch her look for the youngest Chosen since they went to pay their respects to God and learn to hone their new skills they received during the winnowing.

Lane ran her hands through her blonde, now ruffled, hair as she tried thinking of where on Earth Kira would be hiding and why she didn't come with the rest of their new family. "It's not like Kira to do this, Bryan. Sure she's been spouting complete nonsense lately, but there's no way she could actually leave the city."

Coming up from behind was another woman several years older than Lane and had an authorative air about her and wore the look of an unpleased parent or leader, "Did you happen to check if anything was missing from your room?"

It only took Lane several seconds to realize what the woman was getting at and a cold wave washed over her entire body, "Oh no..."

The woman then walked up closer to Lane, eyes dark and piercing, and spoke with a dark tone, "Lord Father would like to see you... Now. And do explain how you let the _youngest_ of our kind out of your sight and into harm's way."

The icy sting of the woman's voice left Lane shaking where she stood, the thought of appearing before an angered God frightened her to no end. But she had to face the consequences of her inactions, Kira was 'her' responsibility, she should've watched her more closely and made her dismiss any foolish ideas from her mind. Not wanting to keep God waiting, with lightning speed Lane made her way back to the manor, ready to explain her negligence and pray for forgiveness and redemption.

Entering the manor the Lord General and several high ranking Elite stood at the entrance to God's sanctuary, when the high ranking Elite saw Lane, they tried to suppress their anger against her for making God angry while the Lord General stepped aside to allow the frightened Chosen to enter. Forcing herself to walk the Chosen walked up to the door, froze for a moment, fearing the sight of God angered over her losing the youngest Chosen, but walked through the door into the dark sanctuary. Walking towards the middle of the room, the door leading out closed behind her, on instinct and respect Lane fell to her knees and bowed to where her hands and forehead met the floor.

"Lord..."

"SILENCE!" Lane flinched at the intensity of the command given, shaken to her core, the Chosen stayed silent and waited for her God to unleash is wrath. "I've given you one duty to perform, one that you failed to uphold due to your negligence!" The man at the front of the room stood up from his seat, keeping his back to his bowing 'child', "Why is it that you allowed yourself to neglect young Kira, thus allowing her to leave the only place in this world where she's safe?"

Lane choked back her tears the fell freely down her face and tried to compose herself long enough to answer, "I never meant to neglect her, my Lord. Since Kira was far younger than anyone here, I assumed that she wasn't strong enough to leave here or even think about leaving." Lane tried to explain her reason, "Please Lord Father, I beg you for your forgiveness, it was never my intention to let Kira out of my sight." she begged, the fact he was angered with her alone greatly upset her.

"I nearly expected this to happen if Kira was in the hands of an Elite, but never from one of my own children."

Lane's heart wrenched inside her chest at the sound of disappointment in her God's voice, "I-I never meant to..."

"Enough!" the man's voice interupted, turning to face her, red eyes glowing with anger but then died down. "Go retrieve Kira."

Lane opened her eyes in suprise, going through what he said she looked up to face him, "Thank y..." She stopped when the man raised his hand to silence her.

"Take two Elites with you when you leave." He ordered and what he would say next froze the Chosen's heart to its very core, "If you find her dead, don't come back."

Once the man the Chosen refered to as 'Lord Father' turned his back to Lane, she got up on her feet and left the sanctuary to prepare to go after the one that got away. Leaving the manor the first thing Lane did was pack her necessities, thinking that her journey was going to be a long one and as she packed, she noticed that the majority of Kira's clothes were gone which made her think that Kira wasn't planning on coming back if not by force. Finishing with her packing Lane left the apartment building only to meet two Elites that were assigned to her under the Lord General's orders and from there the three proceeded to walk to the gates to be let out while several Chosen watched.

As the gates opened Lane threw her cloak's hood over her head to block the sun from her eyes and proceeded to lead the way to where ever Kira ran off to since the wind had long since covered her tracks and scattered her scent.

**~X~**

Unable to withstand the sun any longer, the young Chosen took shelter in an abandoned building that was nearly buried in sand along with the city it was in. Entering the building through a window Kira had to jump down since from the window to floor was a long drop and she didn't have anything to climb down. Landing on her feet she was only slightly surprised that she didn't feel any tingling sensation in her legs that would've been there if she did such a thing, taking off her cloak and back pack, Kira sat down on the cold floor not caring about the dirt. Letting her body take in the cool air that the building offered, the young girl leaned back against the wall and looked to see what building she had entered to get away from the blistering sun, her eyes widened when she saw she was in a gymnastics building. Upon seeing that she was inside such a place made images flash inside her mind of what looked like her performing a routine on a balancing beam, other kids applauding and a much younger kid running up to Kira and hugging her.

_'"That was so cool, Ki-ki!"'_

When the images faded, Kira quickly went for her back pack only to pull out a sketch book and a pencil and started drawing out what she saw in her mind. Drawing faceless people and backgrounds for a while Kira looked at the three pictures she drew and the one that stood out was the one of the younger child hugging her... The younger child had a face in the picture but her eyes were closed but she was smiling and that alone was enough to make Kira happy that she was able to remember a face from her past.

Putting her sketch book away Kira couldn't help but eye the balancing beam, feeling a strong urge to go on it and perform like she had remembered herself doing in the past. Resisting the urge no longer, Kira grabbed a beanie out of her bag to put all her hair in so it didn't get in her face, took off her shoes, walked over to the beam, inspecting it to make sure it was safe to go on and feeling that it was secure it was as if everything she learned had came back to her all at once from the moment she climbed onto the beam. Performing many acrobatic flips and twirls the youngest of the Chosen cartwheeled to the end of the beam, did a somi-and-a-half (One and a half somersault) and stuck her landing on the mat which kicked up a cloud of dust which in turn put Kira in a coughing fit.

"Hey! Who's in 'er!?" a male voice rang in what Kira thought was an empty gymnsatic's center and footsteps were heard rushing to the main area.

In a panic Kira ran towards her back with enhanced speed, slipped her shoes back on not caring if they were tied or not and slung her back pack and cloak over her shoulders. Just as she was about to make an attempt to jump to the window from which she entered, several men looking less for wear entered the room with weapons in hand, "It's just a brat. Get lost you, this is our place!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know." Kira apologized then before they decided to attack her anyway for whatever reason, Kira leaped up to the window, grabbed the window sill and climbed out while ignoring the reactions the men had after seeing her do what she did.

"Oh shit, it's one of those freaks!"

Hearing how those people reacted to her just jumping up to a window had hit a spot in Kira, from the moment most of the Chosen were called by Lord Father, he told them that they were perfect, the evolution the world had been waiting for, but there were people that thought otherwise. If the Chosen were so perfect then why were they feared and not loved, that was something Kira had not understood but now wasn't the time or place to ponder on such things. Back out in the sun the Chosen began heading away from the sun and out of the almost nonexistent city towards a place where hopefully were civilized people.

**~X~**

_**Crunch**_

The sickening sound of a fist smashing through the hard exterior of a Scorpion Ender resounded in the ears of Lane and the two Elites as Lane pulled her fist back out of the scorpion's head while the Elites managed to dismember the tail from the body to avoid being poisoned. Wiping her hand off on her cloak, Lane commanded the Elites to keep moving and that every minute they waste standing around the longer Kira has to get further away and being unable to return home. With that being their only motivation the three headed north leaving the corpse to rot in the desert to be food for anything that came its way.

Running for quite some time the three had to take shelter due to the sand storm becoming too intolerable to run through. Taking shelter in a cave, the two Elites stood guard at the entrance of the cave while Lane kept pacing back and forth, impatient with how long the storm was going on. The Chosen fell on the ground holding her head in her hands wishing that she had never left Kira alone, she had also wished that Kira hadn't practically packed up all her belongings because with her enhanced sense of smell if Kira had left at least a scrap behind she could use that to track the young girl down whether or not the scent was starting to fade. She guessed that if anyone was going to be looking for her and she didn't want to come back, she'd take everything of hers that could help whoever was looking find her.

"Kira, I swear you're going to be the death of me."

The two Elites looked slightly over their shoulder to see Lane nearly in the fetal position and looked back at one another. Neither one of them could understand what the Chosen was going through but their orders were to do whatever it takes to keep Lane alive and if Kira had been found keep her alive as well until they were home where they belong. They completely understood the consequences if they failed at their mission at hand, death of a Chosen on their watch would result in their death, so the Elites had to use everything they've learned to keep the Chosen alive.

The storm continued to blow hard through the sandy terrain but that didn't impair the Elites vision to see a Viper Ender, they were about to do whatever it took to prevent it from coming anywhere near the cave until one of the Eiltes stopped his partner for a moment. What the Elite saw that his partner didn't was that the Ender had recently ate by the lump in its body so it would be sluggish and would hopefully just pass by to finish digesting whatever it had ate. Watching the Ender pass by the Elites felt only slightly at ease but kept their guard up just in case anything else were to come by. As the sun was on the verge of setting it was at the same time that the storm had let up, finally allowing Lane and the two Elites to continue onward until they hit a nearly buried city.

"Wait!" Lane ordered as she inhaled deeply and looked at a building specifically where only the windows and roof were showing, "She was here, the scent is fading, but she was here."

Before the Elites could proceed to leave the buried city, from out of nowhere several men appeared out from behind buildings, carrying makeshift weapons. "Well isn't this our lucky day," One of the men commented, brandishing his weapon which was a machete that had traces of blood and a slight yellowish sheen.

"No doubt they have any valuables." another said, taking a step closer to the group of three with two other comrades.

"Yeah, the brat didn't have any goods so you three are a nice compensation." another man said, not knowing that he caught Lane's attention.

Standing behind one of the Elites, Lane stared down the Greed who mentioned a 'brat' assuming they had seen Kira, "And this 'brat' was it a girl?"

"Dunno, the brat was wearing a cap, but it sure sounded like a girl." the same Greed spoke, unknowingly enticing the Chosen, "Besides, what would you want with one of those freaks anyway." In a blink of an eye Lane was right in front of the Greed, holding him up by the neck while his pals froze for a moment in shock.

"I suggest you watch how you speak about those who are superior than you worthless insects." Lane growled as her grip tightened on her captive's neck.

Quickly getting over their shock the other Greeds rushed in to get their partner out of the woman's grasp but before they could take a step forward the two Elites sprung into action and Lane tore out the Greed's neck, dropping him and leaving him to bleed out. With swift precision both of the Elites used the knives they had on them and stabbed the Greeds in their reach in the back, but making sure that they paralyzed them so they wouldn't be of any bother to them. With one Greed dead, three paralyzed, the only remaining were two and one of them had the strangely colored machete on them.

"Before we leave you to rot here, did you happen to see where the kid went?" One of the Elites demanded of the two living lethal scavengers, prepared to either kill or incapacitate them.

"We have no idea where the brat went, when we spotted her she left the building." The Greed with a crowbar answered while is partner added.

"For all you know, she could be dead and there'd be no way to find the corpse."

The two Elites looked at one another before slightly rearing their head at Lane, "What do you suggest we do with them, madam?"

"Kill them, they're useless. But leave those who are paralyzed be... It'll give the zombies and Enders something to eat."

Receiving their orders the Elites finished off the last two Greed, but unknown to the other, the Elite closest to the machete weilding Greed got stabbed in the side. Leaving the 'entree' for whatever scavenger came around, the group of three left the city, the Elite who got stabbed didn't tell his comrade thinking that he'll heal and be over it in a short time even though his side felt like it was being melted away.

The unscathed Elite looked behind him to see that his partner was falling behind, "Forty-two! Keep up!"

"I-I'm coming." the Elite known as Forty-two shouted until he collapsed on his knees, vomiting whatever was in his stomach and blood.

"Shit!" The Elite cursed under his breath, he knew something was wrong with his comrade from the moment they left the city. He looked over to Lane to make sure she wasn't going any further without him and went to check on his dying comrade. The Elite noticed a cut and blood stain on Forty-two's side, so he lifted his comrade's shirt only to find that nearly his whole side was eaten away, the underlying tissue exposed, the smell didn't get to him but watching his comrade suffer was worse.

Able to get a hold of himself for a moment, the dying Elite looked at his comrade and told him to go on, "Just leave Thirty-seven, you go finish your mission and bring that Chosen back home."

Just nodding the Elite known as Thirty-seven got up but before he left Forty-two, he grabbed his jaw and with a quick jerk back, he broken Forty-two's neck, putting him out of his misery. Showing no other emotions, the Elite walked back over to the Chosen he was assigned to protect and they proceeded to carry on through the wasteland.

With the sun now set Lane and Thirty-seven managed to arrive in a town just barely alive to rest for the night and begin their search anew in the morning. Walking into the inn that was still awake Lane approached the counter and managed to get a room for the night... with a little persuasion of course. The two proceeded to go to their room and figure out where to go since the scent trail was almost nonexistant and they couldn't exactly question the locals because who in the right mind would actually pay attention to a child that wasn't theirs.

Unknown to the Chosen and Elite, their target was actually in the same exact town they were in.

"Thank you ma'am." Kira thanked a woman as she was setting down a plate of meager food for her.

"You're welcome sweetie." the woman smiled at Kira, she sat back down at the table and just watched as Kira started eating. "I'm sorry if it's not much."

Kira quickly swallowed the food in her mouth hearing that the woman was apologizing for what little they had to offer, "Oh no, it's okay! I really didn't mean to intrude on you and your husband." Kira kept her gaze down, avoiding the husband's displeased look knowing that he didn't want his wife wasting food on a kid.

"Where are yer parents, shouldn't you be with them rather than out here all by yourself?" the man asked, thinking it was rather odd for a child such as Kira to be traveling alone.

"I don't have parents." Kira said plain as day, pushing away her unfinished meal, sulking about how she couldn't remember her parents. "I have a father figure but..." Kira shook her head, "Nevermind. I should be going."

Kira scooted her chair out and proceeded to gather her belongings, "Hon, it's too dangerous to walk out there at night, at least stay until sunrise." the woman tried to get Kira to stay, feeling her maternal instincts kick in.

"I'll be fine."

Before the woman or her husband could say anything else, Kira threw on her cloak, left the house and started going down a road not caring where it led. Since it was night, the wastelands weren't that unbearable as it was in during the day and the stars were out so Kira had no problems seeing where she was going. Feeling a cool breeze blow through the lands the runaway Chosen went into a sprint, sensing a familiar presense but at the same time it was completely new to her.

_'This must be big sis, it has to be!'_

Full of hope and nervousness, Kira ran faster through the wasteland while occasionally stopping to rest momentarily before running again and being careful to avoid Enders of any kind and zombies. By the time the sun was starting to rise Kira was sitting on a boulder watching the sunrise, watching how the rays seemed to make the wasteland look like a serene scenery from a painting. Just as the young Chosen was about to head into the town ahead, she felt a familiar tingling almost an itch in the back of her mind and her heart throbing, tears freely fell down her face remembering what those feelings were.

"Father... I-I'm sorry, I don't want to go back home yet." It hurt Kira to say that as she kept moving in the opposite direction the nudging was trying to get her to go. "I just have to meet big sis, just please don't make me come back before then."

Kira was in tears as she used all the will power she could muster up to resist the call, it was rumored that those who obeyed the call once before find it much harder to resist. The rumor now deemed true as Kira kept trying to stop herself from turning back.

**~X~**

Rested back up, Lane and the Elite known as Thirty-seven left the inn swiftly to avoid anyone lashing out at them. Their 'staying low' tactic worked until a woman looking in her late thirties or fourties stepped out trying to get Lane's attention.

"Miss, excuse me?" the woman managed to catch Lane's attention when she looked towards her and Lane noticed she was holding something. "A little girl left this behind when she left last night, I don't know if you'll cross paths with her but if you do, could you return this?" the woman handed out a crochet cap, not noticing the surprised glint in Lane's eyes.

Taking the cap the Chosen looked at the woman, "What did this little girl look like?"

"Oh, she was the most precious little girl I'd ever seen, she looked no older than eleven or twelve, had such lovely ebony hair, stunning gray eyes and last I checked she had a brown cloak that looked like it was in terrible disrepair." the woman Kira had spent a short time with explained what the young Chosen had looked like, not knowing who she was telling that to. "That poor girl out there all alone, I hope she's okay, but if you find her please make sure she's safe."

Putting on an innocent smile Lane assured the woman, "Don't worry, if we cross paths I'll make sure she gets home safely."

"Bless your souls."

Once the woman left back inside her home, Lane started grinning as she took in Kira's scent through the cap knowing perfectly well that it was hers, it was the same cap she had given Kira when she first arrived 'home'. With the trail now fresh again Lane and Thirty-seven broke out in a sprint, their enhanced speed aiding them it was going to be no time at all to reach the runaway Chosen.

**~X~**

Able to resist the call Kira wiped the tears from her eyes and proceeded to walk into the small colony town of Laebon. The familiar presence that urged her to run onwards was still far out from the town she was in, but just as she was going to pass by without a second glance Kira accidentally walked right into a man.

"I'm sorry." Kira quickly apologized as she looked up to see... "Thirteen!?"

"Huh?" Darwin was confused at first but then realized who the kid was after she called him by his former rank. Just as Kira was about to run he quickly picked her up to question her.

"No! Let me go, I'm not going back home until I meet big sis! Lemme go!" Kira strugged in Thirteen's grasp.

"What are you talking about? I'm not here to take you back home... Wait a second, you ran away?!" Darwin looked at the Chosen with a look of disbelief, "What were you thinking, Kira! Why did you..."

"Uh-oh." Kira stopped Darwin in mid-sentence looking back from where she came into down to see Lane and an Elite. "She's pissed."

Lane stepped forward just as Darwin placed Kira back on the ground and just barely recognized the other Chosen, "Kira..." Lane growled as she took another step towards the young, now frightened, Chosen, but then took notice of Darwin, "And just who are you?"

"That's Thirteen, he... he was presumed dead after being gone for several months." Thirty-seven quickly interupted, quite suprised to find him alive.

Darwin looked down towards the ground as if hesitant to say what he was going to, "My name's Darwin now."

Lane, Kira and Thirty-seven looked at the former brainwashed Elite, confused looks covering their faces, "Darwin?" Kira recited the name, "Who gave you that name?"

"Angel did... Or as you and the other Elites know her as; The Yellow-Eyed Devil"

Before Kira could demand where Angel was Lane quickly intervened, "Thirteen, don't you dare tell her where The Devil is. She's coming back home where she belongs."

Darwin gently pushed Kira behind him to show the elder Chosen and her Elite escort that he wasn't going to allow them to forcefully take Kira back to home base. He knew he could take on Thirty-seven no problem but fighting a Chosen... Now that was going to be much much harder than he would expect.

"Kira... Head east, last I saw Angel, she was heading to a town called Hope to get rid of some people who had undesirable information on us. If she's not there... then keep looking, I'll hold these two off for as long as I can." Darwin told Kira, who was shocked at what the Elite had just said but nodded and ran.

"Once we get Kira back, we'll deliver you back to Lord Father and see if he'll give you a just punishment for what you did." Lane growled, her blue eyes shining in rage as she and Thirty-seven charged to fight.

_(This took me god knows how long to finish. At first this was just an idea that entertained itself in my mind when I read 'Dog Days of Post-Paradise' by Project X but I deleted the first draft because I wasn't doing much with it and I thought that the idea was gone. Then as I was talking with Jamy and mentioned the oneshot, I just had to write it again but this time this is what happened._

_I left it at a cliffhanger on purpose for the readers to make up their ending or possibly assume the worst._

_Also I put this in third person because I felt that it was easier on me to continue writing it if it wasn't in first person._

_Jamy, I didn't know if you had another plans for Darwin but if you like this and put it in your story, you can change whatever you need. Hope you like it.)_

_Reviews would be appreciated._


End file.
